Refrigerating apparatus



Feb. 19, 1963 K. K. KESLING REFRIGERATING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Aug. 19, 1960 mmvron. Keith K Kes/ing m3 His Afro ney Feb. 19,1963 K. K. KESLING 3,

A REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 19, 1960 i A 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jmmvroa Keith K keyi g His Attorney I United States Patent 3,077,644REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Keith K. Kesling, Dayton, Ohio, assignor toGeneral Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of DelawareFiled Aug. 19, 1960, Ser. No. 50,803 1 Claim. (Cl. 20-69) This inventionrelates to a refrigerating apparatus and :lIlOie particularly to animproved door seal arrangement door seals and thereafter the magnetsattract one another so as to provide a good seal when the doors are inthe fully closed position.

A further object of this invention is to reduce the amount of rubbingwhich takes place at a seal surface -when a magnetic seal slides past anadjacent surface.

' Further objects and advantages of the present invention will beapparent from the following description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings wherein preferred embodiments of the presentinvention are clearly shown.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a refrigerator embodying my invention.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on line 22of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on line 33of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 but showing the door slightlyajar.

FIGURE 5 is an elevational view with parts broken away showing theinside of a refrigerator door.

Referring now to the drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of theinvention is shown, reference numeral generally designates arefrigerator cabinet having a pair of doors 12 and 14 which arepivotally supported lon the cabinet 10 adjacent the outer edges of thedoors [by means of hinges 16. Each door is provided with a vhandle 18for selectively opening the doors.

the doors supports a magnetic type door seal general y Each ofdesignated by the reference numeral 20 which serves to engage the frontface 22 of the cabinet 10 adjacent three sides of the door. The cabinetis of the type which does not have a center mullion and therefore theseal on the fourth side of each of the doors does not engage the cabinetbut engages the seal on the adjacent door to seal .the crack between themeeting edges of the doors.

One of the big problems in providing a seal between adjacent edges ofdoors of this type is that of eliminating the wear on the door seals asthey move past one another in the process of opening and closing thedoors. By providing a bar magnet 24 in the bulb portion 26 of each ofthe sealing strips and by arranging the poles of the bar magnets alongopposite edges of each bar on the fourth side of each door as shown inFIGURES 2 and 4 of the drawings, the bar magnets on the meeting edges ofthe door will repel one another as the seals first approach one anotherduring the door closing operation but will attract one another as thedoors move into the fully closed position.

As best shown in FIGURES 2, 4 and 5 of the drawings, the inner doorpanel 28 of each door is provided with a marginal seal protectingprojection 30 which lies close to the one edge of the door seal.

The door seal preferably consists of the usual extruded element which isformed with a magnet receiving recess or bulb portion 26 and a resilientbellows-like formation 32 so as to provide resiliency for the bulbportion of the seal. The seals may be held in place on the door by anysuitable means, such as by a metallic strip 34 placed within the bellowsportion of the seal 20 and held in place on the outer door panel 36 bymeans of spring clip fasteners 38.

The magnets employed in the gaskets are preferably formed fromfinely-divided magnet forming material such as ferrite united by asynthetic resin binder and extruded into an elongated relatively fiatstrip. The composite strip is passed through a magnetic field tomagnetize the strip with the opposite poles arranged at the oppositeedges of the strip. Strip magnets of this type are now well known andhave been used extensively commercially and need no further description.

The gaskets are generally formed of rubber, synthetic plastic materialsuch as vinyl, or other elastomeric material which have rubber likeproperties.

As best shown in FIGURE 5 of the drawings, the sealing strips aremitered at the corners, as indicated by the reference numeral 40. Itwill be noted that the extruded portion of the door seal issubstantially square in cross section with the result that it ispossible to miter the door seals to one another at a l four corners eventhough the flat side of the magnet faces the cabinet along three edgesof the door seal where the door seal engages the face of the cabinet andthe flat side of the magnet is arranged to abut against the mating sealon the fourth side.

While the embodiments of the present invention as herein disclosed,constitute preferred forms, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted.

What is claimed is as follows:

In combination, walls forming a cabinet having a compartment therein,one wall of said cabinet having an opening therein providing access tothe interior of said compartment, two doors pivotally mounted upon saidcabinet in side by side relationship normally closing the access openingof said compartment, said doors having portions thereof abutting saidcabinet wall in a first plane and having adjacent mating edges in .asecond plane substantially at right angles to said first plane forming ajoint exposed to the interior of said compartment, continuous means forsealing the joint between the mating edges of said doors and between oneof said door portions and said cabinet wall, said means comprising agasket extending along the mating edge of one of said doors and alongsaid one of said door portions, said gasket including a mounting portionsecured to said one door and a flexible movable bulb portion formedintegral with and projecting from said mounting portion, longitudinallyextending magnetic means in said bulb portion having opposite polesarranged adjacent opposite edges thereof, complementary gasket meansarranged adjacent the other of said doors and having opposite magneticpoles adjacent opposite edges thereof arranged to attract said firstnamed poles in the closed position of said doors, the mating edge ofsaid one door having a channel formed therein for receiving said gasketand for supporting opposite sides of one section of said mountingportion to prevent excessive sidewise movement of said gasket in eitherdirection in said second plane, and the said one of said door portionshaving means for unrestrictingly References Cited in the file of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 23,920 Mark et al Jan. 11, 19552,659,118 Anderson et al Nov. 17, 1953 2,723,896 Wurtz Nov. 15, 19552,807,841 Janos Oct. 1, 1957 2,958,912 Bower et al. Nov. 8, 19603,004,309 Korodi Oct. 17, 1961

